The Wreckage
by memoire
Summary: When a mysterious girl leads him to the wreckage the HMS Argo, a passenger ship from 200 years ago, it sends Percy on a scavenger hunt to find the identity of the girl and the circumstances that lead to the crash of the Argo.
The sea gently blew on the Percy's face. He was standing barefoot in the sand, digging his toes into the ground and feeling the individual grains against his feet. The sky was grey and fog settled onto the ground. It was a peaceful day on the Atlantic shore, the perfect day to go outside and relax to the sound of waves crashing into the ground.

He was the only one on the beach as far as the eye could see. A gentle smile graced his fair face as he watched the waves churn. _This must be what heaven feels like_ , he thought. _Relaxing in the most serene place possible with only the sea and your thoughts._

This moment didn't last for long, however, as he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. At that moment, the air suddenly got colder. He turned around to see a girl about his age wearing an old-looking blue dress. The appearance of another person was offsetting to Percy. This was an obscure part of a beach on Long Island. The only people who knew about this place were passerby fishermen and him.

Tentatively, he smiled. "Hello, there. What's a girl like you doing out here in this weather? It's cold outside and you're going to get sick if you don't cover up. What's your name?"

The girl didn't say anything. She just simply stared at him with those unnerving grey eyes of hers.

Percy coughed awkwardly, slightly annoyed that she intruded his "happy place." The appearance of her was odd in so many ways. "Um, why don't you go home? Here, let me give you my jacket so you won't get sick." Percy shrugged off his coat and handed it towards the girl.

Instead of taking it like a normal person would, she ran east, towards a mound of sharp looking black rocks. Her footsteps were light and barely made an imprint on the sand, as if she was running on air instead of the ground.

"Hey!" Percy called. He sighed in exasperation. This was getting ridiculous. And yet, he found himself running after her with one had clutched tightly on the jacket. "Wait up! Are you lost? I can help you!" Still, the girl kept on running.

Percy could hardly keep up with her and she was at the very edge of his eye sight. He didn't recognize this part of the beach. Why was she leading him here anyway? Percy was pretty much disobeying everything that his mom taught him about strangers.

He was wrapped up too much into thoughts to the point that he didn't notice that the girl vanished, as in she was nowhere to be found. Percy stopped in his tracks and looked around for her. He arrived at the place where the rocks were, a part that he didn't even notice before. Her footprints disappeared, but were they there in the first place?

Percy observed his surroundings to find wooden wreckage by the rocks. It was in a state of decay with the mast broken in half. Only the bow, hull, and a part of the bow spirit remained. Seaweed covered a great deal of the surface and oysters made their home in it. Based on the size, this ship used to be a grand one back in the days when they were still made of wood.

He walked forward to it, wanting to get a better look at the schematics when he felt a stick under his foot. On instinct, he looked down and saw to his surprise that it was shaped in an arrow along with two other sticks. The arrow pointed to the pile of rocks.

Intrigued, Percy walked to the rocks and cautiously examined them for anything of interest – and sure enough there was a brown corner out between two boulders. With much difficulty, he managed to push the top one out and freed the paper.

To his surprise, it was a wooden picture frame. The glass was already cracked and under it was an old black-and-white photograph. The rocks must've protected it from the weather and decay. Percy carefully extracted the photo form the frame and smoothed it out.

On the back was written " _The Argo_ , 1886" in neat, faded blue handwriting. On the front was a group picture of about thirty or so crew members all in immaculate clothing with wide smiles. In the very front, was the girl that he saw earlier dressed in the same style of clothing.

Percy felt his blood run cold. So the girl… was a _ghost?_ Did he just meet a dead passenger on a crashed ship? And the answer was yes, yes he did.

The temperature once again dropped and he once again met with the girl. This time, instead of a stare, she had a serene smile on her face. She looked more at ease the last time Percy saw her. He saw her mouth move, but couldn't hear what she was saying.

 _Thank you._

The girl disappeared, leaving only the stir of the breeze making a soft and mournful sound.

* * *

 **Hello, fanfiction. It's nice to see you again.**

 **I actually wrote this a little over a year ago... I guess I forgot to put it up. Here it is in its pure, unedited form. I wasn't planning on continuing it, but if there's enough reception, maybe I will.**


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